Symantec to recruit online users to combat hackers?

The internet has become a battleground: security firms and hackers are going head to head in an online arms race that sees the two groups developing new viruses and firewalls in order to control the multi-billion dollar industry that is cyber-crime.

Cyber-crime has come a long way since the early days of the internet where 'hacking' was simply a way for computer experts to impress each other by getting through each others firewalls, but today cyber-attacks occur at a rate of one every quarter of a second with experts predicting that one in five of us will be victims of hackers.

Because of these shocking statistics, Rowan Trollope, senior vice-president for consumer products at Symantec, the largest maker of anti-virus software, believes it is time for online security experts to review their defences. Instead of simply erecting firewalls around computer systems and defending against multiple intrusions, he believes it's time to go on the offensive.

"It's time to stop building burglar alarms to keep people out and go after the bad guys," he said, speaking to Business Week.

And how does he propose to do this? By recruiting the public to snare the hackers.

Symantec have just released their new Norton Internet Security program, but this time the program enables the company to collect data about attempted computer intrusions and then forward the information to authorities.

With many victims unintentionally installing malicious code onto their computers, Symantec's new product utilises a technology dubbed Autopsy that quarantines any suspicious software and then creates an onscreen alert that tells the user the software came from an unexpected location such as China or Eastern Europe. A service called Norton Community Watch collects the data and forwards them to law enforcement.

Not just that, but the security firm will be working with the FBI to name, shame and even put bounties on the heads of hackers. Symantec will start to list the FBI's top 10 hackers and their schemes on their website as well as offer cash rewards for information leading to their arrests.

Law enforcement agencies are in agreement that utilising the public is the only way to stop many of these hackers, especially considering the number of complaints reported to the government-backed Internet Crime Complaint Centre rose 33 percent last year to 275,284.

With systems like these and support from both the public and worldwide companies, Trollope is convinced that cyber-crime operations could soon be seriously hampered.

"I'm convinced we can clean up the Internet in 10 years if we can peel away the dirt and show people the threats they're facing," says Trollope.

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